Benfica were a draw away from qualifying for the semi-finals of the League Cup but, on a gray afternoon, they were unable to deal with a courageous SC Braga led by a goal woman called Malu Schmidt, who with a hat-trick achieved a 3-2 victory and relaunched the fight for qualification, still with a day to play.
The home team managed to take the lead in the 19th minute through Malu Schmidt, who took advantage of a poor approach by Christy Ucheibe, who tried to control the ball in the small area and moved it to an unprotected area, in which the Brazilian striker was in a privileged position to score and did not miss the opportunity.
The goal conceded spurred the eagle who soon after, in the 20th minute, created danger through Lara Martins and in the 22nd minute, restored equality through Cristina Martín-Prieto, who jumped higher than the opposing defense and met, with a header, a center taken with precision by Marit Bratberg-Lund.
SC Braga came close to regaining control of the scoreboard in the 32nd minute, with a half-turned shot from Cris Vieira for a tight save from Lena Pauels, and made good on that threat at the start of the second half, in the 53rd minute, again through Schmidt, who shot into the top left corner after being served by a through ball from Zoi van de Ven towards the Benfica area.
Benfica tried to react to the second situation of disadvantage and came close to equalizing again in the 73rd minute through Lara Martins, the Reds’ most dissatisfied unit, but their attempt went just wide of the Braga’s goal, who would still end the match with golden key.
Malu Schmidt, inspired, reached the hat-trick with a good movement in the area and materialized an excellent collective play by the Minho warriors, which culminated in a high-level assist from Maria Alagoa serving the Brazilian, which confirmed Braga’s triumph as, until the end, Caroline Moller only managed to reduce the difference to the minimum, at 90+7.
The triumph of the arsenalistas keeps open the place for access to the semi-finals of the competition, which will be contested by these two teams in the last round, to be held on the 31st – Benfica will host the already qualified Valadares Gaia, while SC Braga visits Vitória de Guimarães in a Minho derby.
